Elon Musk so irritated by LA traffic he decides to dig a tunnel
Elon Musk, the mole man
Anyone who has ever been to Los Angeles, or even consumed media concerning Los Angeles, knows that it is known for having some of the worst traffic in the world. Whether you are making your morning commute, or coming home in rush hour traffic, you will without a doubt spend an absurd amount of time sitting completely still on the freeway. The ridiculous LA traffic is an every day issue for everyone in Los Angeles, and that includes the abundant amount of famous people. One person who is especially adverse to the inconvenience is inventor/engineer/business magnate Elon Musk.
On December 17, 2016 Elon tweeted the following:
Of course everyone thought that this was just Elon complaining like every Los Angeles inhabitant, despite the fact that he said he was actually going to bore a tunnel. I mean, it doesn’t seem very practical to attempt. But no one has ever said that Elon Musk is a practical person. He is an inventor specifically because he thinks outside the box.
So it was a surprise when he tweeted this on January 25th.
And even more of a shock when he tweeted this two days later.
Elon Musk actually started digging a damn tunnel.
Elon’s reasoning is that traffic is “soul-destroying” and tunnels are the way to alleviate some of the stress of driving in major cities like Los Angeles. Many cities cannot make more lanes width wise and unless flying cars are in the near future, seems like going down is the only logical solution to the nuisance.
There has been some debate over whether making tunnels will actually help solve the issue of gridlock or just make it worse, with compelling arguments from both Elon and those who oppose.
However, at this point in time the logistics are still in the works. Mr. Musk started tunneling on SpaceX property, which is legal, but if he wishes to extend the tunnels outside the property there is a lot of paperwork coming his way. Tunneling is extremely time consuming both in physical execution as well as permits, therefore we will just have to wait and see.
Whether the this tunnel mania will amount to anything is still unknown, but one thing is clear: LA traffic really is the worst.